The outstanding Scottish fiddle player Paul Anderson will be performing in the Highlands Hotel in Glenties next Saturday night, October 3, as part of the 44th Glenties Fiddle Weekend.
Paul Anderson has received both an MBE and an honorary doctorate for his services to fiddling in Scotland. Over the years he’s made a number of visits to Donegal and has been involved in several projects with the Donegal fiddle organisation Cairdeas na bhFidiléirí.
Paul, who’s from Tarland in Aberdeenshire, will be joined in the concert line-up by two leading local players.
Tara Connaghan, who’s from Glenties, has been making the headlines recently for her podcast on traditional music, ‘In Tune With Tradition’, which has won international awards. Her fiddle-playing is highlighted on two CDs, ‘The Far Side of the Glen’ with fellow fiddler Derek McGinley from Glencolumbkille parish, and ‘SíFiddlers’ with the all-female fiddle group.
Tara Connaghan.
Also performing on Saturday night will be Ella Bruton from Inver. Ella began her fiddle playing with lessons from Denise Boyle, Glenties. Now she has graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from Queen’s University in Belfast.
In recent months she’s been deepening her all-round knowledge of the music tradition by working in the Irish Traditional Music Archive in Dublin.
Ella Bruton.
The concert starts at 9pm. Admission is €15, payable at the door.
The Fiddle Weekend also features graded fiddle classes on Saturday from 10.30am to 12.30pm and on Sunday from 11am to 12.30pm. The two days’ classes cost €15.
Paul Anderson will lead an advanced fiddle workshop on Saturday afternoon from 2.30pm to 4pm, fee €15.
Anyone interested in booking a place in the classes or the workshop can email email [email protected] or call Rab Cherry of Cairdeas on 086 340 9019.
Paul Anderson will also talk about ‘The Fiddle Music of the North East of Scotland’ in the Highlands Hotel on the Saturday afternoon from 12.30pm to 1.30pm. Admission free.
A feature of the Glenties Fiddle Weekend is the sound of fiddles in informal sessions in the Highlands Hotel and in local pubs. The Glen Tavern in the glen of Glenties, a home for Donegal fiddling throughout the year, also gets a visit or two.
Rab Cherry from organisers Cairdeas says they’re expecting another great weekend of fiddle music.
“It’s about celebrating the marvellous fiddle tradition in Donegal, and also the links with fiddle traditions elsewhere, particularly in Scotland. It’s great to see that reflected in the concert. We’ve an established Donegal player in Tara Connaghan, and Ella Bruton representing a new generation of players in the county. Paul Anderson personifies the great connections between Donegal and Scotland in fiddle-playing.”
Paul has produced documentaries on acclaimed Scottish fiddle players specially for the Donegal fiddle Facebook page, ‘The Fiddle Music of Donegal’. Available there at the moment is his documentary on the Scottish fiddler and composer William Marshall (1748–1833), described by Robbie Burns – a fiddler himself – as “the first composer of Strathspeys of the age”.
Paul also did a two-part documentary for the Facebook page on the famed fiddler James Scott Skinner (1843–1927). Skinner has been a significant influence on Donegal fiddlers, including the travelling fiddler John Doherty and Tommy Peoples, St Johnston.
Ella Bruton has material on traditional music available online. Her selection of tunes from the massive collection of Offaly accordionist Paddy O’Brien is available at itma.ie – and includes some tunes associated with Donegal.